The Futurist Daily News

The Minimum Wage: Does It Matter?

Increase in minimum wage

WORLD – Since minimum wages are not indexed to inflation, they do not systematically increase in proportion to changes in the costs of living.

Those in favor of increasing the minimum wage will argue that such an increase would lift people out of poverty, helps low-income families make ends meet and narrows the gap between the rich and poor. But forget about all of this. That last argument is underscored by the exorbitant salaries earned by CEOs and other corporate titans, which are also the same people generally arguing against an increase in the minimum wage.

Instead of cutting down on their salaries, which, by the way, is paid by the business and the income that you generate being paid generating revenue at minimum wage to pay their extravagant salaries that they earn sitting ion their office or at the private club, their argument is that allowing you to have a decent wage thus, a decent life, would hurt small businesses, squeeze profit margins, lead to inflation, encourages employers to downsize their staff and increases the cost of goods to the end consumer. What a bunch of baloney I say!

For some others, economically speaking, the theory of supply and demand suggests that the imposition of an artificial value on wages that is higher than the value that would be dictated in a free-market system creates an inefficient market and leads to unemployment. According to this theory, the inefficiency occurs when there are a greater number of workers that want the higher paying jobs than there are employers willing to pay the higher wages. What a bunch of baloney I say!

Keep in mind that earning more than minimum wage does not necessary mean that one is not living in poverty. According to estimates, some 37 millions people lives in poverty in the United States only. What about Canada? What about Spain? Greece? France… What about the world? Unless we all collectively take charge of our life and destiny now and decide to empower ourselves, nothing is going to happen. No matter how high is the minimum wage, too many will still be unemployed or living in poverty.